Pulitzer winning playwright Brian Yorkey visits Boulder High classes

Brian Yorkey poses for a group selfie with Boulder High students, from left to right, Lizeth Zavala, Melisa Castruita and Zulema Cervantes during the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright's visit to teacher Laura Jordan's World Literature Academic Support Class class on Monday.
Photo by Paul Aiken / The Boulder Camera / May 12, 2014 (Paul Aiken / Daily Camera)

Laura Jordan asked students in her world literature academic support classes to analyze song lyrics and a clip from the rock musical "Next to Normal."

The students liked it so much, they asked for more and ended up studying the entire show. As they did, they developed a list of questions that Jordan delivered to Brian Yorkey, who wrote the book and lyrics, while on a trip to New York.

Along with the questions, the students included a request for a Skype session. But instead of skyping, Yorkey, who splits his time between Los Angeles and New York, came to their school Monday to talk to them in person.

"They asked really perceptive questions that showed me that they had really engaged with it on a personal level," he said.

Several students said they expected a musical to "be boring," but found themselves wanting more.

Sophomore Alex West said he connected to the story on a personal level.

"My family, we have our arguments, but we're there for each other," he said.

Sophomore Melisa Castruita added that, as the class began having "deep conversations" about the script, "it got really interesting."

The students quizzed him on everything from costume color choices to interpretations of scenes to his favorite line — "Most people who think they're happy just haven't thought about it enough."

"I love to sit here and tell you what I think," Yorkey said. "But your response is as valid as mine."

"Next to Normal," which won a Pulitzer prize in 2010 and three Tony awards, "explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness." The mother in the story is bipolar, while a son she lost appears in the play to help the family learn to deal with grief.

He told the students he didn't think the show would make it to Broadway, much less win awards. He said the idea came while he was in a workshop with Tom Kitt, who wrote the music for "Next to Normal," and they needed to write a short musical as a final project.

"We procrastinated," Yorkey said. "It's good to be a little bit desperate, that's when you get the most done. We wrote this 12-minute version of what the show became."

He said he saw a news piece on electroshock treatment for mental illness and used that as a basis for the story.

"One of the reasons I write about things is I want to know more about them," he said. "I always ask myself, 'What's that like to live that life.'"

He decided to make it into a full length musical because of the audience response, he said. While doing readings of the show, he said, "people would literally line up afterwards to tell us about their experiences with mental illness."

Jordan, whose class provides struggling and reluctant learners with additional reading and writing skills, said she likes using musicals because it gives students multiple ways to connect to a text, from musicality to lyrics to staging.

She said the students were "brazen" in asking for Yorkey's time and thrilled to have him talk to their classes. Along with talking about the musical, he shared stories and jokes and posed for picture after picture.

"It validates them," Jordan said. "It says in a very clear way that your voice matters. For these students, this is huge."

Classmate Zulema Cervantes said she was excited to hear directly from the playwright.

"It's interesting to hear the author's point of view of the whole play," she said.

Added sophomore Cristian Ledesma: "I'm very thankful he came. Something like this has never happened to me."

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